Deloitte boosts Dublin presence with new blockchain EMEA HQ

Deloitte is to make Dublin its central location for blockchain technology development with the opening of a new Dublin centre that will house 50 developers and designers, who will move in over the next 18 months.

Deloitte has been heavily backing the development of blockchain technology for some time now, most recently seen last April with the revelation that it was working with Bank of Ireland to help the financial institution transition to working with blockchain.

While used largely by cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, blockchain can be defined as a peer-to-peer infrastructure where nodes in a network coordinate to play a vital role in processing transactions.

The technology is widely seen as being adopted by many technological institutions as, thanks to its time-stamped blocks, entire processes can be made transparent to help determine any failures in transactions.

Now, Deloitte has announced, the firm will build a team of 50 people over 18 months, largely from its existing staff, who will be based in the Dublin centre.

The lab’s team will be comprised of blockchain developers and designers and will serve as the company’s EMEA centre of excellence in blockchain and will work alongside specialist teams in other member firms.

‘Lifting blockchain use to a new level’

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Speaking of the announcement, David Dalton, head of financial services at Deloitte Ireland, and co-lead partner of the lab, said: “There is significant demand from clients who are looking to use blockchain to speed up payments and transfer clearances, settlements, reconciliations, digital identities, and many other use cases.

“By bringing together the best of Deloitte experts and building upon our capabilities, we believe our lab will play a significant role in lifting blockchain use to a new level.”

Likewise, Deloitte Ireland’s managing partner, Brendan Jennings, said that the decision to set up its EMEA blockchain HQ here is a testament to Ireland’s fintech prowess.

“We are proud that Ireland has been chosen as the location for this lab,” Jennings said.

“Not only was the strength, expertise, and proven capability of the Deloitte Ireland blockchain team recognised, but the proximity to the headquarters of many global technology companies, our strong focus on innovation and R&D, and the support from governmental institutions, academia, and the local fintech industry were all key factors in securing this investment.”

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As an award-winning editor for Consumer Magazine of the Year 2013, Colm joined Siliconrepublic.com in January 2014 as a journalist covering AI, IoT, science and anything that will get us to Mars quicker.

When not trying to get his hands on the latest gaming release, he can be found lost in a sea of Wikipedia articles on obscure historic battles and countries that don’t exist anymore or watching classic Simpsons episodes far too many times to count.